'Rent-to-Own' is really just renting. Don't let anyone fool you otherwise. Rent to own generally implies that a small portion of the rent will be applied to the price of the house later on down the line, and isn't all that horrible. But, if anyone wants a very large chunk of money up-front to 'rent-to-own', <<
I too agree that in 99% + of cases in California at least, rent to own appears to be a bad idea. If you know the landlord pretty well and they can make you a deal that locks you in to today's purchase price and they will enable you to get a good amount credited towards closing costs and down payment towards purchasing in a couple of years...that could be a good thing for you. Otherwise, some lenders like myself specialize in enabling people to take advantage of down payment and grant assistance programs which can require you to show as little as a couple of grand in total liquid assets...to buy now. We fund these programs with our own money to make the loan expedited more quickly to satisfy all.
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